DARIUS MILHAUD
Marsiglia 1892 – Ginevra 1974



Sixteen signed autograph letters, dated between 1933 and 1937, addressed to his "Mon Cher Ami" Guido M. Gatti. This important correspondence is developed around various musical themes but mainly discusses reciprocal invitations to participate in cultural events such as the Maggio Fiorentino and the International Music Congress of Florence: "... je tien à vous remercier de tout pour toutes the amabilites ... pour but femme et moi pendant le congrés de Florence ... ". One typewritten letter, with autograph corrections, confirms the sending of many photographs of staging of the author's works for the project promoted by the "Italian Illustration": "... Ci-inclus: une reproduction du Train Bleu à Hanovre ... a photo of l'Homme et son Desir (Paris) ... ". Milhaud was part of the "Group of the Six", a musical circle that arose spontaneously in Paris around 1920 of which he was a member along with composers Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric and Louis Durey. Born in France in the first post-war period, his music was a reaction to the dominant tendencies of Claude Debussy and Wagnerism. They summarized the musical heritage of Erik Satie and had the writer Jean Cocteau on their side. In 1918 the latter wrote the programmatic manifesto of this group entitled "Il Gallo e l'Arlecchino" which revealed the ideology of the Six and transposed it into musical aesthetics. Various formats.